Flying-machine.



E. BERTHOLF.

FLYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6, 1009.

Patented Dec. 6,1910

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FLYING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED JULY 6,1909.

977,997. Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

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FLYING MACHINE. APPLIUATION FILED JULY 6,1909.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

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Witness UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD BERTHOLF; or WATKINS, NEW YORK.

' mime-Macrame.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 6, 1909.- Serial No. 506,182.

' To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, EDWARD BERTHoLr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Watkins, in'the county of Schuyler, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flyin -Machines; and I do hereby declare the allowing to be a-full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable. others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. i

This invention relates to improvements in flying machines and has for its Y object the provision of a device of that kind having a motor to actuate a lifting wheel and another motor to actuate the driving propeller and a connection whereby one motor may actuate both the lifting wheel and driving pro eller when the other motor becomes disa led., j

Another object is the provision of a parachute adapted to automatically open when the device is in'the air and the motors 'or the parts which they drive become inoperative.

With these and other objects in view as will more fully hereinafter appear, the resent invention consists in certain nove details of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more.

is a, verticalsectional View on the. line 33,

of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is asectional plan view on the line 44 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detailed side elevation of the upper portion of the parachute and showing the same. in open position. Fig. 6 is a detailed plan view on the line 66 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is'a similar view on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5." Fig. 8 is a section-a1 plan View of the cage on the line 88 ofvFig. 1. Fig. 9 is a detail elevation of one of the supporting wheels, showing its friction hub in connection with the friction band which meets therewith to form a brake.

Similar nuinerals of reference are emment with the hubs.

ployed to designate corresponding parts throughout.

The cage or body of the machineis designated in general by' the numeral,5 andis Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

provided with a bottom or" floor 6- having bolsters 7 on its lower face and adjacent its opposite ends to which are secured axles 8.

Bearin wheels 9 are journaled on the opposite en s of the axles 8 and provide a meansfor transporting the device after the latter is onthe ground. Friction bands 10 surround the hubs of the rear wheels and have one end fixedly secured to the lower face of the bottom'G while their opposite ends are secured to across piece 11, the intermediate portion of which is pivoted to one end of a connectingrod 12, theopposite end of which terminates at a point adjacent the front wheels and is pivotally connected tothe lower end I of a lever 13. The latter is fulcrumed in the floor 6 and its upper end within easy reach of the operator. Thus it will be seen when the'wheels are running on the ground after the device has come to earth it may be brought to a stop by moving the-lever so as to bring the friction bands. 10 into engage- Rising from the four corners of the bottom 6 are standards 14', the upper ends of which are connected by stringers 15 disposed parallel with the sides and ends of the bottom, and inclining upwardly and inwardly and terminating adjacent the center of the device are struts or braces 16, the outer ends of which are secured to the upper ends of ;the standards 14 while the inner ends of which are secured to the outer face of a boxing Rising from the center of'the'frame is a :standar 18 which extends through the boxing 17 and considerably above the latter, and encircling the standard 18 is a hollow shaft 19. .The shaft 19 is considerably less in length than the standard 18 and adjacent its lower end is provided with a bevel gear 20. It might here be stated, that the lower end of the standard 18 extends'through the floor 6 and surrounding the lower end of the standard is a cup-shaped boxing21, having a central openin through which the lower end" ofthe stari ard projects, the said lower end 4 being provided with a head or cap 22 which bears on the outer face of the boxing. Surroundin' the lower end portion of the standard and caring on the inner face of'the boxing 21 is a cone 23, having aball recess'in en of the hollow shaft 19. The upper endof the ,hollow shaft 19 extends beyond thewhich is disposed ball bearings 24 and bearin on these ball bearings 24 is the lower upper vboxing '17 and has keyed thereto a liftin wheel 25; the latter consists of a hub 26,'w ich is keyed to the outer end of the hollow shaft and fromwhich extend the radial blades 27 having the requisite pitch to lift the device from the ground when the wheel rotates.

Extending longitudinally of the cage and having its opposite ends secured to the intermediate portions of the end cross pieces is a stringer 28, the intermediate portion of which-is provided with an eye or opening for the loose reception of the hollow shaft 19 and rising from the rear end portion of the the central floor 6' and at the longitudinal central line thereofis a brace 29, the upper end of which is secured to the rear en portion of the stringer 28. A second brace 30 rises from ortion of the rear end of the floor 6 and is in direct alinementwith the first-named brace 29 having it supper end secured to the rear end cross piece. The upper endaportions of the braces 29 and 30 are provide with boxings 31-and 32 andjour- I naled in these boxin s is a propeller shaft 33, one end of whici extends eyond the rear of the cage and is provided with a propeller 34. The latter has the usual hub 35 which iskeyed to the outer end of the shaft and from which project the radial blades 36 having the requisite pitch to drivethe ma-,

chine when the latter is lifted from the ground. The 'innerend of the propeller shaft 33.projeets in advance of the innermost brace 29 and terminates in a sprocket wheel 37, and connection between the braces 29 fand'30 is established by means of an upwardly inclined strut 38, the opposite ends of-which are secured to the intermediate portion of the outer brace 30 and boxing 32 of the innerbrace 29.

A rudder is arranged at the central portion of the forward endof the cage and is designated by the numeral 39. The inner end of the rudder is provided with eyes 40 and 41 which engage with similar eyes ,42 and 43,

-, which are arranged in a vertical'planeand the outer end of which is secured to a brace 44, the latter is arranged at the intermediate portion of the forward end of the floor 6 and has its opposite ends secured to the floor and front cross piece 15. Disposed on the upper side and adjacent the f-rward end of the rudder 39 is an arcuate rack 45 which is disposed in a horizontal plane with its opposite ends lying equal distances from the opposite faces of the rudder and journaled in, the brace 44 is a shaft 46, rovided with a pinion 47 which meshes wlth the teeth on the upper face of the rack 45 while its inner end terminates at a point adjacent the vertical hollow shaft 19 and has keyed or other wise secured thereto a hand wheel 47. Thus it will be seen by turning the hand wheel 47 rotary movement will be imparted to the shaft 36, whereby the rudder 39 will be the central line of the present 20. of the hollow shaft and slidingly fitted on these-opposed-inner ends are a pair of bevel gears 50 and 51. The'beyel gears 50 and 51 are provided with the usual'hubs 52,

the outer surfaces of which have annulargrooves and fulcrumed on ,thefloor 6 are the lower ends of a'pair of levers 53 and 54 which are (not shown,) e latter engaging with the grooves and operating to shde the gears 50 and 51 lon 'tudinally ofsthe shafts 49' so as to bring t e teeth of the gears 50 and 51 into engagement with the teeth of the bevel gear 20, it being understood that'the hubs of the gears 50 and 51 have tongues which Slldingly fit in recesses in the driving shafts 49'. Thus it will be seen when the levers 53 and 54 are moved inwardly or toward each other that the teeth of the gears 50 and 51 will engage with the teeth of the bevel gear 20 on the hollow shaft 19, whereby rotary movement will be im arted to the lifting wheel 25, it being un erstood' that the gears 50 and 51 will be rotated in opposite direc-' tions and when either of the gears 50 and 51 are'moved out of engagement with the bevel gear 20, one of the motors will operate the lifting wheel. i

It will be observed now by referring to 'Fi 1 that the rearmost motor 48 has that en of its driving shaft 49' remote from the bevel gear 51, extending to a point adjacent the rear end of the floor 6 and keyedto this plrovided with lateral studs, t

portion of the shaft is a sprocket wheel 55 in direct alinement with the sprocket wheel 37 on the inner end of the propeller shaft 33, connection between the sprockets being established by means of the usual sprocket chain 56. If desired, -a clutch connection operated by a lever 57 may beestablished' between the sprocket wheel and driving shaft 49' so that the sprocket wheel 55 may be thrown out of connection with the motor 48 whenever desired and without interfering with the operation of the lifting wheel 25. Disposed on that end portion of the stand-' ard 18 projecting above the upper-end of in general by the numeral 58. This member lar 60, rigidly secured to the upper extremity of the standard 18. The ribs are covered with the usual cover 61, which is fixedly secured to the ribs.

- By referring now to Figs. 1 and 5 it will be seen that disposed on the standard 18 and at points adjacent the upper andlower ends of the ribs 58, when the latter are perpendicular with the standards, are a pair of disks 62 and 63, the lower of these disks is provided on one face with a sleeve 64 which loosely receives the standard 18, said sleeve having a radial opening for a set screw 65 by means of which the disk is adj ustably secured ,.to the standard. The upper disk 62 issecured to the standard 18 and arranged below the upper disk 62 is a bumper 66, the latter is'in the form of a disk and slidingly fits on the standard 18 and is connected to the upper disk 62 by means of a helical compression spring 67 which encircles the standard 1-8, the opposite ends of which are secured to the opposed faces of the disk 62 and bumper 66.

.Slidingly fitted on the standard 18 and below and in the space between the bumper and lower disk 63 is a weight 68 and .connection of the weight 68 and outer ends of the ribs 61 is established by means of cords or wires 69. g

By referrin now to Figs. 4 and 7 it will be seen that the upper-and lower disks are provided with a series of spaced openings 7 O and journaled in the openings 70, are the opposite ends of rollers '71. The bumper disk 66 is likewise provided with a plurality of openings whichare .in direct 'alinement with the openings of the upper and lower disks.

In establishin the connection between the weight 68 an outer ends of the ribs 59 one end of the wires or cords 69 is fixedly secured to the upper end of the weight, the opposite ends of the cords are then trained over the rollers in upper disk 62 and thence directed downwardly and trained over the rollers in the lower disk 63 after which they are secured tothe terminals of the ribs 59. The weight is considerably heavier than the combined weight of the ribs and cover and is adapted by means of the wires or cords 69 to hold the parachute in closed position when in the air; however when the lifting wheel or its driving mechanism becomes inoperative and the device begins to fall this falling movement will cause the air to enter beneath the cover and raise the latter to the provided with the usual ribs 59, the inner s of which are pivoted to a toothed col;

position shown in Fig. 5. ,During the opening movement of the ribs it will be seen that the weight68 will ascend on-the standard 18 until its upper side abuts against the bumper 66, whereby the spring will be compressed and the sudden shock to the cover which would otherwise result, will now be reduced.

From the foregoing it .can be seen that I have provided a device which is exceedin ly simple in structure and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, embodying few parts and these so arranged that the danger of \derangement will be reduced to a minimum.

Having thus described my invention what is claimed as new, is

1. In a flying machine, the combination with a lifting wheel having a vertical shaft and a gear on said shaft, a propeller, a pair of motors on opposite sides of said vertical shaft and each having a horizontal drive shaft, connections between the drive shaft of one of the motors and the said propeller to operate the latter,.gears on the sald motor drive shafts,'and means to engage either or both of said gears with the gear of the said vertical lifting wheel shaft. 2. In a flying machine, the combination of a vertical rod, a parachute at the-upper end thereof and having ribs movable angularly in a vertical plane a lower disk secured to said rod and having direction elements, an

upper disk secured to the said rod and having direction elements, a weight guided on said rod and cords connecting said weight andthe ribs of the parachute and engaging the direction elements of the said disks.

3. A fiyin machine having a parachute, a vertical rod to whichthe' parachute is connected, a weight movable vertically on said rod and connected to the parachute to normally close the latter and a spring pressed element on said rod to yieldably check the ascent of the weight'when the parachute opens.

4. In a fiyin machine, a standard, a pair of spaced per orated disks secured to said standard, a parachute frame pivoted to said standard above saiddisks, a weight, and flexible connecting elements through the perforations of said disks and having their opposite ends secured to said weightand the outer ends of said parachute frame.-

In testimony whereof, I atli-x my signature.

in presence of two witnesses. g

EDIVARD BERTHOLF. Witnesses Gao. C. WAIT, G. M. 'STILWELL.

extending 

